Love Food Hate Waste and seasonal food tips

This weekend I had my first plum off the small plum tree we have in the garden. It was one of just three I had left after the weather and sparrows had got to them first. But it was heaven...and perhaps I valued it a lot more because there were so few?

At Love Food Hate Waste we'll be featuring all things seasonal and all things water next week. From the 5th September you can read all about the water we throw away every time we throw away our food. You can explore the story of food and get great seasonal tips for making the most of the food you buy, grow and share. But to get you in the mood here are my top 10 seasonal food tips to avoid throwing good food away:

1. Plums - make a spicy warm fruit salad. This recipe is good for using up bits of fruit that are past their best and are not quite good enough for fresh fruit salad. Almost any fruit can be used if you don't have plums such as mangoes, apricots, pineapple, peaches, nectarines, grapes, and kiwi fruits. Delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream or on top of your morning cereal.
2. Raspberries - If raspberries, blueberries, strawberries or other soft fruit looks a bit past its prime, cook it gently in a saucepan until mushy and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche for a quick pudding.
3. Lettuce - keep any spare lettuce or salad leaves in a tupperware pot in the fridge with a sheet of kitchen towel in the bottom - this holds the moisture and stops the leaves going soggy
4. Runner beans - make a leftover chicken and tomato curry adding runner beans to the mix or use in a stir fry in place of french beans
5. Courgettes - add to curries, lasagne, stews, stir fries, or just lightly fry with some chopped garlic for a great summer side dish
6. Carrots - Peel, top and cut your carrots into carrot sticks. Place the carrot sticks in a tupperware container and cover with water. This keeps crisp carrot sticks great for lunches or snacking!
7. Beetroot - try our duck, broad bean and beetroot salad one evening - if you don't have duck swap it for chicken or toasted croutons. If you don't have broad beans swap for runner or french beans instead. 
8. Apples - keep apples in the fridge and bring one or two out every day if you prefer them at room temperature. Apples can also be frozen in slices after they have been quickly cooked in boiling water. Freeze in a single layer then pack into bags once frozen. Use the frozen apples to make into apple cake or apple sauce.
9. Seasonal herbs such as parsley or coriander - if you've bought or picked a bunch of herbs and have a lot left over, keep in the fridge as you would for lettuce (as above) or freeze it in a sandwich bag and then crumble it into curries etc
10. and finally tomatoes are coming into their own at the moment - to freeze tomatoes, remove their stalks and freeze whole in freezer bags. They can then be used in place of canned tomatoes, in a tomato or Bolognese sauce or chilli con carne. Just put the whole frozen tomatoes into the pan at the point when you would add the canned tomatoes. Don’t try to defrost them separately as they turn to mush. Try our tasty tomato soup recipe if you have a lot that need using up.

Come back next Wednesday to find out more about the food we waste and where it comes from.

Until then...enjoy!

Em xxx